Mobile Visibility Querying for LBS

Abstract

This article describes research carried out in the area of mobile spatial interaction (MSI) and the development of a 3D mobile version of a 2D web-based directional query processor. The TellMe application integrates location (from GPS, GSM, WiFi) and orientation (from magnetometer/accelerometer) sensor technologies into an enhanced spatial query processing module capable of exploiting a mobile device's position and orientation for querying real-world spatial datasets. This article outlines our technique for combining these technologies and the architecture needed to deploy them on a sensor enabled smartphone (i.e. Nokia Navigator 6210). With all these sensor technologies now available on off-the-shelf devices, it is possible to employ a mobile query system that can work effectively in any environment using location and orientation as primary parameters for directional queries. Novel approaches for determining a user's visible query space in three dimensions based on their line-of-sight (ego-visibility) are investigated to provide for “hidden query removal” functionality. This article presents demonstrable results of a mobile application that is location, direction, and orientation aware, and that retrieves database objects and attributes (e.g. buildings, points-of-interest, etc.) by simply pointing, or “looking”, at them with a mobile phone.